Pinball game



lc. H. HUENERGARDT March 31, 1936.

P INBALL GAME Filed March 20, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 31, 193,6.)Alc. H. HUENERGARDT 2,035,743

PI NBALL GAME Filed March 20., 1955 2 Sheecs--Sheeil 2 J5 ll lfwe'nloClarencehffuenergard Bg MO Patented Mar. 3l, 1936 STATES yPINBALL GAMEApplication March 20, 1935, Serial No. 12,022

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to an improvement in pin ball games.

'Ihese games comprise a cabinet containing a top play board inclinedslightly from the hori- 5Y zontal so that balls projected to the upperend thereof may gravitate down the board, and if skilfully enoughprojected, to be trapped by scoring holes formed in the board. In sometypes of games, a manually released, rotatable scoring device isprovided in the nature of a handicap means to give the player theadvantage of an initial starting score before any balls are played byhim.

'Ihe present structure is a variation of this idea in that either theballs may be played or optionally the auxiliary scoring device may beplayed to achieve a given score, the idea being not to exceed a certainscore total. Or, alternatively, only a few of the total number of ballsavailable 2Q may be played and the remainder of the score to be made,may be attempted by using the auxiliary score device. available ballshave not been played it is desirable to have some means operate from theauX- iliary score means to make it impossible to project such balls asremain unplayed, so that the player is bound by his election to use theauxiliary score device instead of playing the unused balls.

Accordingly, the main object of the invention is to provide meansoperable when the auxiliary score device is used, to prevent play of anyballs remaining.

Another object is to provide means for placing v an obstacle in the ballprojection passage to pre- 30' vent the balls from being projected underthe circumstances described.

Still another object is to cause automatic placement of the obstacle inposition in the projecticn passage to prevent projection of remainingballs, when the auxiliary score device is operated.

Other important objects will later become apparent. 45 Briefly, theseimportant objects are attainable in a pin ball game of the typedescribed having a rotatable, or other operable auxiliary score device,the play board having a ball projection passage and a projector thereinas shown in the 50. drawings forming part of this application. When theauxiliary score device is operated means is operative therefrom to movean obstacle member across the projection passage to prevent projectionof any balls remaining unplayed. 55' In the accompanying sheets ofdrawings illus- In this latter connection, if all` trating onepracticable embodiment o'f the invention:

Figure 1 is a general plan View, on a reduced scale, of the front halfof a pin ball game showing the auxiliary score device associatedtherewith; 5'

Figure 2 is an enlarged plan View of the front portion of the game withthe top, or play board partly broken away to illustrate the operatingmechanism for the score device andthe associated obstacle for makingprojection of balls im- 1U possible;

Figure 3 is another top plan view of the mechanism as it appears lookingdown from the line 3 3, appearing in Figure 4;

Figure 4 is a central, side sectional View through 15 the game takenalong the line 4-4 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;and,

Figure 5 is a detail side elevational view, partly in section, to showthe ball lifter, taken along the line 5 5 of Figure 2, looking in thedirection of the arrows.

The general game organization appears in Figure 1, where it will be seenthat a cabinet Ill is provided, having a front wall II carrying theusual coin slide I2, ball lift operator I3, and ball projecting plungerIll. As shown also in Figure 4 vthe cabinet carries a game board I5sloped slightly from the horizontal in the usual manner, with the lowerend of said board disposed adjacent the front wall I I. 30

The game board is cut out appropriately to form a ball rolling playfield I6 having a number of holes I'I formed therethrough to trap ballsin a manner well understood. At the lower end of the eld I6 is an outball pocket I8 to receive 35 spent balls that miss the holes I'I. The2lower fend of the board I 5 has a circular depression I9 on its topface to receive a rotatable disk 20 having its marginal edge marked 01Twith numbers to serve as score designations.

The ball projector I4 is located in the customary manner at the lowerend of a ball `projecting passage 2| at the right hand edge of the gameboard. An abutment 22 in the passage serves to hold the balls inposition to be struck by the plunger.

As shown in Figure 4 the cabinet side walls carry brackets 23 forslidably mounting an under ball supporting panel 24, which holds ballsdropping into the holes I 'I and I 8, so that they can be viewed 50 fromthe top of the board I5. This panel 24 is provided with the usual ballescape openings, not shown. for each of the holes Il so that when saidpanel 24 is shifted rearwardly, the balls in the holes Il drop throughthe panel 24 onto a lower 55 stationary ball routing panel 25, whichdirects the balls to a transversely inclined trough 26.

This trough 26 leads the balls toward the right hand wall of the cabinetI9 and into a groove 2'I formed therein as shown in Figure 5. Adjacentthe groove is mounted a pivoted ball lifter 28 operable by the plungerI3 to raise balls, one at a time, from the lower end of the trough 26,up the groove 2'! and into the passage 2| on the board I5, said elevatedballs then gravitating a short distance to lodge against the abutment 22to be in position for projection by the projector I4 in a manner wellknown in this art.

A spring, not shown, and as common in this art, always exerts a force tohold the panel 24 in its forward position, which is shown in Figure 4.This panel 24 carries a forwardly extending bracket 29 in line with thecoin slide I2 so that when the latter is coin released and pushedrearwardly into the cabinet, the slide I2abuts the bracket 29 to pushand slide the panel 24 to release the trapped balls in the holes I'I inthe manner heretofore described. Balls in the ou pocket I8 drop over thefront edge of said panel 24 into the trough 26.

Below the dial 20 and under the board I5 the side walls of the cabinetI9 carry a stationary cross plate 39, which plate 39, substantiallymidway between its ends carries a stationary vertical shaft 3|,supporting on a suitable bearing for turning movement, a sleeve 32having a ratchet wheel 33 formed at its lower end slightly above theplate 39. Secured by a plate 34 and a screw 35 to the top of said sleeve32 is the rotatable, numbered dial 29 heretofore described. The board I5carries a statonarypointer 36 adjacent the periphery of the dial.

The under side of the plate39 carries a pin 3l towhich is pivoted oneend of a rearwardly extending lever 38, which in turn has pivotallyconnected to its rear end, a transversely extending lever 39. The freeend of the lever 39 carries an upstanding pin 49 carrying a roller 4I. Aspring 42 connected between the lever 39 and plate 39 serves normally topull the lever 39 to its forward position as shown in Figure 2. Aslidably mounted plunger 43 is mounted in the front wall I I and guidedin a bracket 44 carried by the plate 39. The rear end of the plunger 43carries a head 45 to abut an abutment 46 carried on the under side ofthe lever 39.

The pin 49 at the left hand end of the lever 39 extends upwardly througha guide slot '4'I formed in the plate 39 as shown in Figure 2. The topside of the plate 30 carries a vertical pin 48 to which is pivoted,intermediately of its ends, a lever 49. A spring on the pin 48 has oneleg 59 bearing againstY a pin 5I onthe lever, and another legV 52bearing against a pin 53 on the plate 39. The left hand end of the lever49 carries a pivoted, spring pressed, trigger 54 having an extension 55in the path of movement of the pin 49 as it moves through the slot 41. Astop pin 56 on the plate 39 is positioned forwardly of the trigger 54 tolimit the forward movement of the left hand end of the lever 49.

, The right hand end of the lever 49 carries a pivoted, spring pressed,forwardly extending pawl 5l having a pin 58 on its under side. When thepawl 57 is moved forwardly by the lever 49 the tpin 58 guides along theleft hand side of a vertical wall 59 on a spring pressed pivoted lever69 carried by a pin 6I below the plate 39 and in an opening 62 formedtherein. As the lever 49 Amoves the pawl 5'I forwardly its pin 58eventually Y gure.

rides off the front end of the wallA 69, causing the pawl to engage theratchet wheel 33. The spring 59, 52 then presses the lever 49 to movethe pawl 5l rearwardly to turn the ratchet 33 and spin the score dial29, all in the manner more specifically disclosed in my co-pendingapplication, Serial Number 749,602, filed October 23, 1934 for Scoringdevice for games and the like.

Below the plate 39 (see Figures 2 and 3) at its left hand end is a pivotpin 64 carrying pivotally a two armed lever having an arm 65 and an armE6.. A stop pin 6l is provided to limit the pivotal movement of thelevei` in the right hand direction under the influence of a spring 69pressing the lever. The rear end of the arm 65 is widened out andnotched at 69 to receive the roller 4I heretofore described.

Adjacent the lever 95, 69 the under side of the l plate 39 carriesanother pvot pin for pivotally mounting a trip lever 'I9 intermediatelyof its ends, one end of the lever 'i9 being stopped by a pin 'I I, whilethe other end is slotted, slidably to receive' a. longitudinal rod 'I2having a bent end 'I3 andi carried by the slidable panel 24, as

shown.

The abutment 46 on the lever 39, heretofore described, is engageablewith one leg of a bell crank lever 'I4 pivoted to a pin 'I5 undertheplate 39. The other leg of this bell crank lever carries a roller '16,which engages the downwardly bent end of a transverse slide bar 'I'Iguided by a pair of slots 18 in the bar and pins 19 carriedy by theunder side of the plate 39. 'Ihis bar is normally pulled'to the left, asseen in Figure 3, by a spring 89. The right hand end of this horizontalflat bar has secured to it, as by welding, a vertical plate 8! movablewith the bar in a vertical slot formed in the under side of the board I5adiaV cent the projection passage 2 I, and slightly rearwardly of theabutment 22 in said passage. A glass panel 82 encloses the top of thecabinet I9.

This completes the detailed description of the parts; The use andoperation of this mechanism will now be given.

In operating'the game it will be understood that only a predeterminednumber of balls are sealed in the cabinet and available for play. Wewill assume then that there are only ve balls. In starting the playthese ve balls will be either in the trough 29, or scattered, with somein said trough, while others are in the holes I'I or pocket I8. Suchballs in the traps I'I, I8 are supported by the slide panel 24.

By operating the coin slide I2 the panel 24 is shifted to release theballs from the traps to cause them to roll into the trough 26, wherethey are available to be elevated one by one, by the lifter 28 into theprojection passage 2I and against the abutment 22 therein. Operation ofthe plunger projector I4 shoots these balls to the rear, high end of theboard I5 in the usual way, such balls then gravitating down the playfield I6 to lodge in the holes I'I, which have designated, numericalscoring values.

After two or three of the balls have been so played the player maydecide to complete the scoring by operating the numbered dial 29, itbeing remembered that the players purpose is to achieve a score totalwhich will not exceed a given Such gure may be made by trapping severalballs and adding to the score so obtained the chance, additional scoredetermined by spinning the dial wheel 29.

Accordingly, the player'pushes the plunger 43 into thecabinet I9,causing the head 45 to abut `pivotal connection to the lever"link38 andabout the pivot '.3'|. ;.`Thus, the left Ahandsendloithe lever 39. movesthe. pin 4|)` vthereonxzrearwardly throughA the guide slot 41; formed inthe plate. 38. This pin 49 `thereuponpushes on the extension55, causingthe trigger 54 to move rigidly with the lever 49.-about'thepivot.pin.48. Thus, the right hand end of the lever 49 moves forwardly to movethe pawl 51 ahead, said pawl being guided by its pin 58 along thevertical wall 59 of the pivoted member 60. This movement has placed thespring 50, 52 under tension. When the pin 58 rides off its guide thespring pressed pawl 51 is urged into engagement with the ratchet wheel33.

In the meanwhile the plunger 43 has moved the lever 39 to the positionshown in Figure 3 and as the spring 68 normally urges the V-lever 66, 65to the right it so happens that the roller 4| releasably locks in thenotch 69 in the lever arm 65, thus locking the lever 39 against thetension of its spring 42. At this position of the lever 39 its abutment46 has also engaged the bell crank lever 14 to push the slide bar H tothe right and thereby slide the obstacle member 8| across the passage2|. In this position the member 8| obstructs the passage to preventelevated balls from rolling to the abutment 22. Thus, while balls may beelevated into said passageway 2| they cannot be projected. Therefore,the projector I4 is made ineiective and any unplayed balls remainingcannot now be played, one of the balls being shown held back by theobstructor 8| in Figure 3.

While this setting of the obstacle has taken place the pin 40 has beenguided to the left by the shape of the slot 41 to such an extent thatthe extension 55 is freed from the pin 40. As a result, under thepressure of the tensioned spring 52, 50 the lever 49 swings back sharplyto its original position as shown in Figure 2, thus moving the pawl 5lrearwardly to turn the ratchet wheel 33 and spin the dial 20. 'I'he dialcomes to rest eventually with one of its numerals alined with thepointer 36. In this fashion a score number is designated w 'ch is to beadded to the score achieved by trapped balls in the holes Il to make upthe final game score total.

The under lever 39, of course, remains in the locked position shown inFigure 3, during and after spinning of the disk 20, and the parts remainso until another play is started by releasing the coin sli-de |2. Whenthe coin slide I2 is pushed rearwardly it moves the ball releasing panel24 rearwardly and with it the rod 12. The hook end 'I3 of said rod hitsthe trip lever l0 to pivot the same, thereby swinging the arm 66 and arm65 to the left to release the roller 4| from the notch 69. Instantly nowthe spring 42 pulls the lever 39 forwardly to its normal startingposition as shown in the dotted lines in Figure 2; at the same time thespring 89 is operative t0 pull the bar 'l1 back to remove the obstaclemember 8| from the passage 2| in a manner thatwill be readilyunderstood.

The spring 68 serves to return the two-armed lever 65, 66 to a positionstopped against the pin 6'1 and the arm 66 itself returns the trip 19 toits normal position stopped against the pin 1|. When the panel 24returns to its normal forward position in the cabinet l0 the rod 12merely slides through the trip arm 10.

The extension 55, of course, became positioned in front of the pin 40 asit returned before the pin. Obviously for another operation of the.dial` 2|Lthe' extension55. must be to the rear: of

thezxpin 4|).in` theslot41..v It isfor thisfreason that .the..trigger 54`isgspringv .pressed andrpivoted. to etherleverl49: as itpermitsthepinfl as itxreturns toiits t forward position to .passtheextension 55. by pivotingthe triggerV independently of` the .lever49. asdescribed in vmy aforementioned coi-pendingspatent application.

The form of dial 20 shown is of no materiality as a turning pointer maybe used with a stationary dial as an obvious substitute.

From this disclosure it can now be seen that an improved game apparatushas been provided which is simple and fool proof in operation, andachieves all of the desirable objects heretofore recited.

It is the intention to cover al1 such changes and modifications of theillustrative form of the invention disclosed which do not depart fromthe spirit and scope of my invention as indicated by the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. A marble rolling game having a game board provided with ballreceiving holes and a ball projection passage, means to elevate ballsfrom below the board into the passage, a projector in the passage toproject balls onto the board, a movable ball supporting panel below theboard, an obstacle member movably mounted below the board and adapted toenter the passage to prevent projection of balls by the projector,operator controlled mechanism for moving the obstacle member to aposition in the passage to prevent projection of balls through thepassage, means to releasably lock the obstacle member in such position,and coin released means to move the panel, movement of the paneloperating connections to cause movement of the obstacle member toinoperative position whereby balls may once more be projected throughthe passage.

2. The combination with a pin and marble game having a substantiallyhorizontal game board including a ball projection passage and means forprojecting a ball through the passage onto the board, of a movablymounted obstacle device included in the game and normally disposed in aninoperative position relative to the passage to permit passage of ballsthrough the passage when the same are projected therethrough by theprojector, and operator controlled means included in the game andoperable to move the obstacle device to a position into the passage toprevent further projection of balls through the passage by theprojector.

3. The combination with a pin and marble game having a substantiallyhorizontal game board including a ball projection passage and means forprojecting a ball through the passage onto the board, of a movablymounted obstacle device located beneath the board and movable topositions for either obstructing or not obstructing said passage toprevent or permit projection of balls therethrough, a spring normallyholding said device in its non-obstructing position, manually movablemeans included in the game to move said device to its passageobstructing position against the pull of said spring, and a releasablelatch operatively associated with the device to retain it in itsobstructing position.

4. The combination with a pin and marble game having a substantiallyhorizontal elongated game board including a ball projection passagealong one side thereof, a projector in the passage for projecting ballstherethrough onto the board, a transversely disposed member movablymounted below the board for movement from an inoperative position to aposition Where one end thereof obstructs the passage to prevent ballsfrom being projected through the passage, resilient means urging saidmemberv to inoperative position, a manually moved plunger included inthe game including mechanism for moving the member to its passageobstructing position, means to latch the member releasably in itsobstructing position, and means for releasing the latch to cause theresilient means to return the member to its normal inoperative position.

CLARENCE H. HUENERGARDT.

